Your Wimbledon questions answered before the finals
Do racquet strings ever break? If so, how?
Bertie ArnoldThey do break - and when they do, it is more likely to be friction over force.Paul Skipp - head of the Wimbledon stringing team - told us the strings most commonly break because they have been rubbing against each other."It's going to be the friction," he said. "As they move, they slide, and they cause the friction. When you hit spin and they slide back and forth, that's the thing that will cause the strings to break."Players generally have their racquets restrung after every match. The tension they ask for can differ depending on the surface they are playing on, as well as the weather conditions, which can affect the speed at which the ball moves.
How many matches are played during the tournament?
Martin in WiltshireA total of 675 matches are played across the 18 courts during Wimbledon fortnight.That includes men's and women's singles, doubles and mixed doubles, boys and girls' junior events and the wheelchair tournaments.
Why do we no longer see the Chelsea Pensioners at Wimbledon?
NataliaThe Chelsea Pensioners may still attend Wimbledon but may not be in the spotlight as much.They were last pictured in 2022.The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC) says 16 tickets per day are allocated between the Lest We Forget and Not Forgotten Associations. The members of both include Chelsea Pensioners, as well as service personnel involved in more recent conflicts.The tickets given alternate between Centre Court and Court One for the first 12 days of the tournament.
Why do the women's champions change so often while the men's don't?
Nicky in St AlbansIn the past 10 years of Wimbledon, there have been only four different men's winners, while the women's tournament has had nine different champions.Former world number five Daniela Hantuchova believes the spread of Grand Slam winners in women's tennis is due to the strength of the overall field."I feel like the field is much stronger across the top 100 - the physicality has moved to another level," said Hantuchova. "It makes it so much more exciting on the women's tour because we have so many different stories. It makes our sport even more entertaining and more exciting to watch."Former Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli says there is no standout player now, unlike when Serena Williams was dominant."The same as Steffi Graf, the same as Monica Seles or Billie-Jean King and Martina Navratilova and you can go down the list of all of the greats," she said."When you have the chance of playing in the era of someone like Serena, it was a chance because she helped us to try to take our game to another level. "That dominance factor, the same as trying to beat Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros, it just makes the rest of the field have fewer chances to become a champion."This article is the latest from BBC Sport's Ask Me Anything team.
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Ask Me Anything is a service dedicated to answering your questions.We want to reward your time by telling you things you do not know and reminding you of things you do.The team will find out everything you need to know and be able to call upon a network of contacts including our experts and pundits.We will be answering your questions from the heart of the BBC Sport newsroom, and going behind the scenes at some of the world's biggest sporting events.Our coverage will span the BBC Sport website, app, social media and YouTube accounts, plus BBC TV and radio.
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Powys County Times
7 minutes ago
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12 minutes ago
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